Tag Archives: Trump corruption

Considering what’s happened to so far today, THIS should be entertaining. The Associated Press reports: Mike Rogers, the director of the National Security Agency, is denying that the British intelligence community was ever asked to conduct electronic surveillance on President Donald Trump at the behest of former President Barack Obama. Earlier this month, White House Press Secretary Sean Spicer referred …

The New York Times reports: The F.B.I. is investigating Russian interference in the 2016 election and possible links between the Trump campaign and the Russian government — and whether there was any coordination, Mr. Comey said. Mr. Comey said that it was unusual for the F.B.I. to confirm or deny the existence of any investigations, but that in unusual circumstances …

CNN reports: President Donald Trump’s job approval rating has dropped to 37%, while 58% of Americans disapprove of his performance so far as president, new Gallup figures show. Trump’s approval rating hovered in the mid-to-low 40s in the weeks following the beginning of his presidency. Aside from the controversy over Trump’s wiretapping claim, the latest poll numbers suggest growing dissatisfaction …

Reuters reports: During the 2016 presidential campaign, Donald J. Trump downplayed his business ties with Russia. And since taking office as president, he has been even more emphatic. “I can tell you, speaking for myself, I own nothing in Russia,” President Trump said at a news conference last month. “I have no loans in Russia. I don’t have any deals …

The Guardian reports: The White House preemptively criticized the Maddow show before it aired, releasing a statement claiming Trump paid $38m in taxes on an income of more than $150m. The statement said he also paid “tens of millions of dollars in other taxes such as sales and excise taxes and employment taxes”. Here’s the full statement from a Trump …

Talking Points Memo reports: Secretary of State Rex Tillerson used an email alias to discuss issues related to climate change while he was an executive at ExxonMobil, according to the New York attorney general. Attorney General Eric Scheiderman made the claim in a letter Monday asking a New York state judge to enforce a subpoena for documents in the state’s …

Politico reports: The watchdog group Citizens for Responsibility and Ethics in Washington is accusing a top White House official of potentially violating criminal conflict of interest laws by playing a role in meetings with major companies in which he also appeared to have held millions of dollars in stock. The group filed its complaint Tuesday against Christopher Liddell, a former …

Raw Story reports: MSNBC host Rachel Maddow continues her investigations into President Donald Trump’s complicated ties to foreign governments. Last night’s installment was about the tangled web of retired Gen. Michael Flynn’s connections to Russia and now Turkey.Last night, in an interview with Bret Baier on Fox News, Vice President Mike Pence said that the story about Flynn and Turkey …

NBC News reports: The White House has confirmed the president’s transition team was informed before Inauguration Day that former National Security Adviser Michael Flynn might need to register as a foreign agent with the Justice Department. That’s according to a White House official and a person with direct knowledge of discussions between transition lawyers and Flynn representatives. The White House …

CNN reports: The Office of Government Ethics isn’t happy with the White House’s decision not to punish top aide Kellyanne Conway for plugging Ivanka Trump’s products in a TV interview. OGE Director Walter Shaub told the White House in a letter Thursday that he remains concerned with Conway’s “misuse of position.” The ethics office recommended discipline because federal rules prohibit …

The Guardian reports: A former foreign policy adviser to Donald Trump has written to congressional investigators claiming, without evidence, that his mobile phone may have been tapped last year. Carter Page, a businessman, suggests this would support the view that the Trump campaign headquarters at Trump Tower in New York was under surveillance, since he works nearby and was a …

All week Rachel Maddow has been piecing together the labyrinthian connections between the Trump campaign and Russia. Last night’s update was especially revealing. Via Raw Story: Maddow described a Politico report, released Wednesday, that revealed authorities investigated Konstantin Kilimnik, an associate of former Trump campaign chairman Paul Manafort, over Kilimnik’s suspected ties Russian intelligence. Maddow explained that authorities are “looking …

Politico reports: President Donald Trump’s former national security adviser Michael Flynn wrote an op-ed on Election Day calling for the U.S. to kick out an anti-government Turkish cleric without disclosing he was being paid by a firm linked to the Turkish government, according to documents newly filed with the Justice Department. POLITICO reported in November that Flynn’s consulting firm, Flynn …

Just in from Quinnipiac Polling: American voters say 52 – 40 percent that U.S. Attorney General Jeff Sessions lied under oath during his confirmation hearings and say 51 – 42 percent that he should resign, according to a Quinnipiac University national poll released today. Voters disapprove 54 – 32 percent of the way President Donald Trump is handling U.S. policy …

The Associated Press reports: China has granted preliminary approval for 38 new Trump trademarks, paving the way for President Donald Trump and his family to potentially develop a host of branded businesses from hotels and golf clubs to bodyguard and concierge services, public documents show. Trump’s lawyers in China applied for the marks in April 2016, as Trump railed against …

NBC News reports: Attorney General Jeff Sessions’ recusal leaves any Justice Department investigation of alleged Russian election interference temporarily in the hands of an official who began his career as a prosecutor under President Ronald Reagan and was promoted by Barack Obama. That means it’s the job of Acting Deputy Attorney General Dana Boente to oversee any investigations related to …

Nothing is surprising anymore. Nothing. Via Mediaite: Back on October 11th of last year, exactly four weeks before his father’s victory in the presidential election, Donald Trump, Jr. spoke at an event in Paris held by the Center of Political and Foreign Affairs (CPFA), a French think tank. On Thursday, The Wall Street Journal published a report further scrutinizing the …

The Austin Statesman reports: U.S. Sen Ted Cruz said Thursday that calls for Attorney General Jeff Sessions to resign or recuse himself from an investigation of ties between the Russian government and the Trump campaign were “political theater,” and that Sessions’ meeting with the Russian ambassador during the campaign — that he failed to disclose at his Senate confirmation hearing …

Venerable newsman Dan Rather went to town on Jeff Sessions this morning. From his Facebook page: Every once in a while in Washington, the fuse is lit for what seems to be a big scandal. Much more rarely does that fuse lead to an explosion of the magnitude we are seeing with Russia and the new Administration, and frankly the …

The Associated Press reports: The intense attention being given to the new U.S. attorney general’s meetings with Russia’s ambassador could obstruct improved Washington-Moscow relations, the spokesman for Russian President Vladimir Putin said Thursday. The spokesman, Dmitry Peskov, told reporters he did not know about the meetings last year between Ambassador Sergei Kislyak and Jeff Sessions, who at that time was …